It ain't over yet
by residentkilla
Summary: Joel, now back at Tommy's, feels like there is nothing to worry about. With Jackson fluttering into a stable safe zone it seems that all the weight is taken from their shoulders, until they are invaded by a group that doesn't exactly live next door. Soon Ellie is kidnapped and must make her way back with a new partner, but how when they are constantly trying to kill each other?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

**The Lie**

**SPRING**

I looked at the bite mark on my arm. Every time I dared to look at it, it brought back the horrific memories of what happened in Boston. The day I got bit... the people I lost. The damn mark was a curse.

"Well-" said Joel as he closed the hood of the SUV. "Looks like were walkin'."

I hopped of the vehicle, slammed the door shut, and followed Joel.

"Should be a straight shot through here." he said looking at a short barbwired fence.

"Alright."

Behind the fence was a gorgeous looking forest. It was the first thing Joel noticed.

"Actually kind of pretty ain't it?" he commented in hopes of bringing up a good conversation.

"Yeah." I answered sadly

He put his foot on one of the wires and pushed down. He followed by grabbing the top one and pulling on it. "Alright- Now watch your head on going through."

I got across with ease and now held the wire open for him- "Alright." He went through it and commented- "Oh... Feelin' my age now."

"Hmpf."

For some reason it felt like me and Joel had switched brains or something. He had become more talkative since we met and I had lost interest in doing so.

"Don't think I ever told you, but Sarah and I use to take hikes like this. I think ah... I think the two of you would have been really good friends. Think you really woulda liked her. I know she woulda liked you."

"I bet I would have." I replied following him

"Wow. Look down there." he said looking at the town ahead. "Just a little bit further now."  
Joel got onto a tree trunk and climbed over a small cliff. Right before I got on; the tree trunk lost it's position and fell down. Still I climbed it and waited for Joel to give me his hand.

"Here, I got you."

He grabbed my wrist and pulled me up.

"Alright, come on."

He turned and went ahead but I stood still with the same depressed look on my face.

"Hey, wait."

Joel's focus was on me now. I spoke my mind, but sort of slow.

"Back in Boston- Back when I was bitten; I wasn't alone. My best friend was there. And she got bit too. We didn't know what to do. So... she says _Let's just wait it out.Y'know. we can be all poetic and just lose our minds together._ I'm still waiting for my turn."

"Ellie-"

"Her name was Riley and she was the first to die. And then it was Tess... and then Sam."

"None of that is on you." He told me, trying to make me feel good.

"No, you don't understand."

"I struggled with a long time with survivin'. And you-" He stopped like if he was about to cry. "No matter what, you keep finding something to fight for. Now. I know that's not what you want to hear right now, but it's-"

I cut him off and raised my tone with him.

"Swear to me. Swear to me that everything you said about the Fireflies is true!"

He tried his best not to hesitate. I knew something wasn't right.

"I swear."

My eyes wandered around for a few seconds. I knew he was hiding something from me. I could see it in his eyes.

"Okay." I replied, but things were far from that.


	2. Chapter 2

What would the perfect day be like? The sun high in the sky? Light winds to cool you off on a hard day's work? Or birds singing together in a choir? The answer is all the above. Not only was this day perfect for being outdoors, but also great for continuing those swimming lessons I've been giving to Ellie, but first I had to find her. I checked her room, the dining hall, and the water plant. That girl was nowhere to be found. So now I walked back and forth at the front gates calling her name in hope of a response.

"Ellie?! Ellie?! _Where are you dammit?_"

"By the sound of things I'd say you didn't show up to last week's meeting. Am I right?" called my brother as he approached in his get up. Yes sir, nothin' but stereotype Texas was tagged on him. Cowboy hat, cowboy boots, brown leather vest, and a blue dress shirt he had tucked into his blue jeans.

"What meeting?" I asked curiously

"The one I told you about two weeks ago."

"Now that's some bull. You didn't mention anything."

"Damn Joel. Amnesia's setting in. In a couple of more years you won't remember your own name." he replied chuckling.

"Yeah, yeah. Have your laugh. Now tell me about this meeting. What does it have to do with Ellie?"

"Well, due to the fact there hasn't been a raid by bandits in the last couple of months; Maria and the others decided it was time to expand the land by building stables for the horses. When we asked for volunteers your girl's hand was the first to fly into the air, so most of the afternoons she's been spending helping out with the stables."

"Well... she does love horses." I said nodding my head.

In the midst of our conversation a man came jogging over and called Tommy.

"Tommy! Hey Tommy!"

Tommy turned his attention to him, putting an end to our little chat. "Victor? What brings you here?"

"I came to tell you that you still have to assemble the team of scavengers before we go in two days."

"Two days? I thought we all agreed in a week?"

"I know, but some of the crops have been dying out on us. All cause of some freaking weeds."

"Weeds? When the hell did this make the cover?"

"We barely found out a couple of hours ago. We were collecting whatever grew when we noticed them. They've been hiding in between the crops for a while now."

"Did ya try ripping them outta the ground?"

"They're tons of the little bastards hidden in the fields. It's really stopped some of the plants from growing. According to Maria we're three months back on food than what we usually are."

"Oh damn, sorry. Tell ya what- I'll be there in a bit. I just need to finish up talking to-"

"It's no trouble at all." I interfered. "Just tell me where these new stables are so I can go and fetch Ellie."

"I guess if you're alright with it. Just go towards the main path, back where the dam is and take a right once you've gotten near the supply shed. Take that path and you should make it there."

"Alright, thanks. I'll see ya later."

**(TRIP SKIP)**

"Well I'll be damned." I said looking at the stable house. The damn thing was practically finished. It was like those you'd find in an actual farm. Colored red and white.

"They finished this thing in a week?"

"Bet your ass they did." replied my sister in law.

"Maria. Is Ellie here?"

"Yeah, just follow me." she answered turning and heading inside while I followed. "Your girl's really something. If it wasn't for her we'd still be working on this thing 'till next Christmas." Exaggerated Maria.

"Why is that?"

"Cause she worked really hard. She'd come over here after lunch, in the morning, and even in her free time just to try and finish things up. Other's took notice and got motivated by her determination. I didn't believe it myself when one of the guys came to me and told me that they finished. A couple of minutes later I stood back there asking myself the same thing you were."

"Is that right?"

"Yup. There she is. I better get going. I have other things to take care of."

Maria pointed to Ellie, who was feeding the horses while petting them gently. Seconds later my in-law had left.

"Hey, Ellie." I called

Ellie faced me and waved 'hi'. She pet the horse one more time and then followed me out the gate.

"So... is it time to swim again."

"You bet. I'll admit that you've really progressed since we first started. At the beginning you wouldn't let the water reach to your head without panicking. Now you can actually lie on your back with ease."

"So what's to cover now?"

"Diving. How long can you hold your breath?"

"I dunno."

"Hmm. Tell ya what. Why don't you time yourself right now? Starting... now!"

Ellie took a deep breathe and held it in for about thirty-two seconds before flattening her stomach.

"Not bad, but you'll have to keep going."

"Why?"

"If you ever find yourself trapped in a boat underwater- I can guarantee you that thirty seconds ain't gonna cut it, so I suggest you keep going. You'll be building up your lungs, so you'll be able to hold breathes longer."

She simply nodded yes and kept training until we reached the pool. It really wasn't much of a pool though. Simply a large ditch about twelve feet deep connected to the flowing river that generated the plant's electricity.

"Alright Ellie! Jump in." I instructed. She did as told and waited for the next set of instructions. "Now dive in and touch the bottom."

"Okay."

Right when she held her breath I stopped her.

"Hold on a second. I want to make sure you don't try and cheat your way out of this one." I added. I reached for a rock on the ground and dropped it into the water. "I want you to dive and bring that rock back up here, okay?"

"Done."

Ellie dove inside, but surfaced seconds later.

"What the heck? I just came back up. I mean not that I wanted to, but the water just- It was like I was-"

"Pushed up. Yeah I know. You have to keep swimming underwater. Don't expect to just sink like the rock did."

"Got it!"

She gave it another go. This time she was down there a little longer than before, but still failed to obtain the rock. I kept her going and going each time- no matter how much she whined.

"Joel, can we just go now? Please."

"Not yet."

"Come on! We've been here forever!"

I took a moment to look at the sky. She was right. I could see the sun setting and few stars forming.

"...Fine, just one more time. Deal?"

"Deal."

She took a deep breath and dove again. I waited thirty seconds, forty, fifty, a minute, a minute twenty, a minute thirty. When I hit the two minute mark I looked over the water. I couldn't see her.

"Ellie, you can come back out now." I notified nervously. "Ellie? Come on. This ain't funny... shit."

I dived into the water and began my search. I couldn't see much due to the lack of sunlight. A minute later I swam up and took a breather before heading back in. Nothing. My heart was pumping faster and faster each second. Again I came up for air.

"ELLIE?! ELLIE?!"


	3. Chapter 3

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"

Dozens of horrible thoughts were racing through my mind; each more horrifying than the last.

"Boo."

Her voice nearly gave me a heart attack. I turned around, finding Ellie sitting on the grass and laughing at my reaction.

"Ellie… Ellie?!"

"What?" she asked with a smile

I looked at him, he was really upset with the scare I gave him.

"You could've given me a heart attack!" he claimed

"How?" I asked, still unable to control my giggling.

"At my age… it's possible."

"Whatever." I replied unconvinced. "Can we leave now?"

"I suppose." he said eyeing the sky

Joel got out of the water and began twisting the end of his shirt into a knot to sqeeze the water out.

"Are you feeling alright?" I asked looking at his exhausted expression.

"Yeah... let's just... get... grr."

He lost his balance and fell on one knee, putting his hand over his chest and gripping tightly.

"Joel?" I asked nervously

Before I could blink, he fell on his back squirming like if someone was holding him down.

"JOEL!" I cried out.

I rushed to his side to see what I could do, but I doubt anything would have helped. Joel kept on squirming violently until he finally stopped moving.

"...Joel... Oh no... Joel."

Then suddenly his hand shot up and grabbed mine. His eyes sprung wide open and gazed at my terrified expression.

"Don't mess with the best." he whispered.

"Asshole!" I said standing up.

I'll admit that this was stupid, but I couldn't help but laugh at myself. He had his laugh as well.

"Why the hell would you do that to me!" I said still chuckling.

"You had to be proven wrong. I told you it could happen at any time, but you didn't listen... so ... I had to show you. And what do you know, you felt for it."

"You're a jackass." I told him

"You'll get over it." He responded normally

"Whatever." I said. "Let's just get out of here." I said smiling.

**(Trip Skip)**

The streets of Jackson had grown quiet and it wasn't the kind of quiet that made you feel in danger. It was the type that notified you that things were at ease and there was nothing to worry about.

Unlike the rest of Jackson's inhabitants, Joel and I lived in the far West end of the town where less people lived. It was more calm, relaxing, and beautiful there. Our house was a one story building that we painted blue ourselves. It was surrounded with grass greener than... well I wouldn't really know.

"What're you doing?" I asked walking into the kitchen, which by the way did not look pretty.

"I'm making us dinner." He replied

Joel grabbed another can of tuna and began sinking the edge of his knife into the metal top.

"I knew something smelled fishy." I commented.

He only smirked at my poor comedy attempt while continuing to drag the knife in a circle around the can. He let the water flow out of can and into the sink before putting the tuna into a large bowl.

"You want somethin' else on it?" he asked

"Throw some chopped onions on there." I replied fantasizing about the meal.

"Sorry, I can't." he said

"Why not?" I asked disappointed

"No one in this town including us have any. Those little weed bastards killed most of the plants so we won't be expecting any onions or vegetables for another couple of months."

"Damn." I whispered

"On the bright side Tommy and his crew of scavengers will go out in about two days to look for food."

"Why not just… you know… eat a horse… or cow?"

"Well, most of food we eat here are vegetables. We rarely slaughter the cattle here for food. When we have to we kill 'bout… what… three to four. Even then everyone else is still starving cause of the little meat they can get. We'd wipe the whole herd extinct if we decided to eat 'em that quickly."

"Man… we're all doing pretty poorly now aren't we? Oh: how about some of that hot sauce stuff from last time?"

"You're the boss." He said grabbing the bottle of spicy red liquid.

"…Hey… why don't you go with Tommy to go look for food?" I asked

He placed the bowl in front of me and sat down on the right side of the table.

"Hmpf. Well… I'm kind of more preoccupied taking care of you." He responded with a glare

"You know I can take care of myself, don't you?"

He looked down at the bowl I was eating from then back at me.

"Yeah, but… then I realized that I could one day leave this planet… leave everything… and leave you."

"You're only fifty-four years old, Joel. You've taken some pretty hard hits when we traveled meet the fireflies."

"Just cause I managed to survive all that doesn't mean that one day I could be torn apart by clickers… or shot to death by a bunch of thugs. This is probably the most dangerous era in mankind. The odds of dying in these times are a thousand times higher than they probably were during the black plaque and both world wars combined together."

"What the heck was either of those events?" I asked confused

"Damn, didn't they teach you history at that military school place you went to before we met?"

"All they taught me was some math, English, and science."

"Goddamn." He said with a smirk. "Well at least you can read."

"Shut up." I said. "Now can you tell me more about the old days? What other things haven't you told me about?"

"What do you wanna know?" he asked

**A/N: So I'm not too far away from the next part, where they all get attacked by the other group that I stated in the summary "Don't exactly live next door." From there I'm gonna be making longer chapters. I wanted to make this chapter longer…. But I couldn't really figure out how. Oh and trust me. This group that Joel, Tommy, and his guys will be facing won't be your average thugs or bandits. They're a bit different and full of surprises. I'll explain them in later chapters when Ellie meets her new partner… well… if they decide to stop killing one another.**


	4. Chapter 4

The day began cloudy as a light shower of rain water kept sweeping the area. Many joined together and herded the cattle into their secure stables, where they would avoid the rain. Others went back inside their houses to keep from getting sick. Although there were a few that decided to continue their daily routines. Some got to the watch towers to keep an eye out for bandits, not the infected because there were none here. With all of Maria's and Tommy's men and women here and all the bandits on the inside, there were no infected. They simply wiped them all out from Jackson or anywhere within a three mile radius really.

As for me, I remained inside with Maria at her home while Tommy and Joel were inspecting weapons and everyone else that worked a station. She was pretty cool, like an older sister. She understood me in the ways guys couldn't figure out. We talked about what we would have probably done or how life would have been like if the infection had never spread like it did. She said she would have studied to have been a psychologist. I told her how I would have liked to have been an astronaut. Then it hit me at some point that if the infection had never spread, my parents, whoever they were, would've never met at Boston, and I wouldn't have been born. Somehow I found myself in a position of thinking whether or not I should be grateful for the infection. If I said yes, then that meant I was glad that billions died and turned for this crap. If I said no, would that mean I hated myself.

"Don't think about it." replied Maria with a small smile. "It'll only make things worse on your part."

"I don't know. It's... it's just hard to think about it that's all."

She sat against the sofa as I stretched out on top of it.

"Do you wanna watch a movie? Maybe it'll help you get your mind of things."

I sighed to myself in silence before giving her an answer.

"Sure... I suppose."

"Great! Wanna help me pick one out?"

"Well? What do you got?"

We both crouched near a small cabinet next to the T.V. where a few movies were aligned side by side in a neat manner. A lot of the movie covers were cartoon-like. The characters had eyes the size of their own fists and in a way it creeped me out, so I didn't pick any of those. At some point of running my fingers through the movies I found one with a cover I remembered seeing when Joel and I were in one of the cities.

"Dawn of the Wolf."

"Dawn of the Wolf?" asked Maria with a laugh. "Of all the movies I've ever watched in my days I had never seen something so cheesy as that. Why would you wanna watch it?"

"It's cause on our way over here, Joel and I got stuck in a city for a while fighting off bandits. Eventually I saw a poster with the same picture as this one. Ever since then I've been a bit curious on how this movie is."

"Well I'm not gonna stop you from watching it. If you wanna watch it then we'll watch it."

"I just hope it's not as cheesy as you say it is."

"I'll let you be the judge of that." said Maria, placing the disc into some kind of DVD player.

* * *

"Are you alright, Joel?" asked my brother, Tommy.

"Hmpf? Oh… yeah."

"We've been walking around town for a couple of hours and you've been quiet the whole way. What's got you under the bridge?"

"…I'm just… how am I going to tell her?"

"Aaaah, I see. Still trying to figure out how you're gonna tell that girl of your's what happened with the Fireflies."

"It's just that… to this day I can still feel the guilt eating me alive. What's gonna happen if she one day figures it out for herself? She's gonna be devastated that I lied to her about it. If I tell her now, she'll probably do something stupid and run away or something."

"Come on, Joel. You're practically her father. The way I've seen that girl attach to you is something I rarely seen now-a-days. If you tell her now, she'll be upset, sure, but at some point she'll get over it and things might return back to normal."

"Please." I replied disappointed. "If anything, she'd never let me here the end of it. She's been with Marlene for fourteen years and she's only spent a full year with me. If she were to pick who she would wanna go with I'd place my earnings on Marlene."

"Maybe, but she's gone through more hardships with you. And you were the only one that was there for her no matter what, isn't that right? What she went through with you is way more than what she could have gone through with Marlene."

I sighed at his words. Maybe he was right. Maybe she would forgive me if I told her face to face in private.

"You're right." I replied. "Though I don't know how I'm gonna explain this to her."

"When the time comes, you'll know. I hope."

I chuckled at his remark.

"You know, I'm still surprised on your reaction when I told you what I had done. How come you didn't pull a gun out on me or try to stab me or something."

"Hey, I told you when you came here, 'My priority is my family now'. You are family and I won't admit that I wouldn't have done the same if she and I had gone through something like that."

"And what if you did take Ellie to go see the fireflies when you never knew her?"

"Hell, screw that. The second I figured out they left the campus to go somewhere else; I would've skedaddled on back over here."

A strike of lightning struck down miles ahead of us, followed by the sound of thunder. The rain also began come down hot and heavy.

"Damn, it's raining cats and dogs." Said Tommy

"What do we do now?" I asked

"Let's do one more sweep of the area. Then we can go on back home."

"Hmpf, that sounds good to me!" I said.

* * *

"_I don't care if you're a monster, Jake. I still and always will love you!"_

"_But Betty, I crave human flesh. You have to get out of here before I… ugh… before I… OWOOOOO!"_

"_Jake!"_

"_Betty! What's going on!"_

"_Ethan! Get out of here! If Jake see's you he'll."_

"_GRRRRRRRR." Said Jake, who was now a werewolf… or a very hairy person_

"Oh… my god." I said aloud. "What kinds of drugs were you guys on that made you wanna watch this kind of stuff?"

Maria laughed and turned to me. "I told you this movie is horrible."

"Man, everything about it sucks so far."

"Hey, believe it or not, this movie made millions of dollars and was considered one of the best films on the market."

"I'd rather gauge my own eyes out than watch that again." I replied. "I mean, come on! A girl with down syndrome moves into some town in Alaska. She meets her old friend, Ethan, and meets a new guy named Jake, who is a freaking werewolf. You've got to be kidding me. That's the worst and most obvious plotline in movie history."

"How, would you know? You've never even watched a movie until you guys came back here."

" I read a few books back at Boston. Most of them had some dumb plot like this." I responded

"Smart girl." She commented. "Hey, I'm gonna grab a small snack. Do you want anything?"

"Sure!" I replied happily. "Do you have any tuna?"

"I think so, yeah."

"Any onions? I asked in hope for a positive answer.

"Sorry sweetheart."

"Dang! What about hot sauce?"

"Hmm, yeah… I think there's some."

"Great."

With that, she walked into the kitchen, leaving me to myself and since the movie was no good, I got off and began to take a look around the living room. The room was family sized, yet still it looked like most abandoned homes I've ever stepped foot into. The floor boards were faded as were the walls. It surprised me that after all the time Tommy and Maria have been here, they never took the opportunity to fix this place up even if it was just to paint the walls just so it could cover the tainted wallpaper that gave off a dark energy on this place. I'm still surprised this place has held together for this long.

Again I walked around looking through shelves and bookcases, looking at the pictures of Maria and her father. A few featured Tommy and Maria at the dam with a bunch of families in the back clapping. My best guess was that they had gotten married on the dam. Maria was wearing a red plaid shirt with blue jeans and women's boots. Tommy wore a blue dress shirt, blue jeans, and also had boots. Somehow I felt that that wasn't what people would wear on their wedding day, but what would I know. I didn't even know how a marriage ceremony was like. Next to the photos was a really old looking camera with a light bulb on top of it. It looked kind of ridiculous. It must have been what they used to take the photos.

I turned around ready to leave, but turned back when I saw something that had caught my eye. Hidden behind the row of portraits was a little golden locket, hiding from me. I picked it up in amazement at how beautiful it looked. Engraved on the outside it read, "The ones I love."

I looked back at the direction of the kitchen. Luckily Maria hadn't come back yet, so I opened the little object and took a look inside.

"Whoa." I thought to myself.

Inside were two little oval shaped pictures. One was with Maria when she was younger. She was hugging another woman who was dressed in a beautiful white dress with a bouquet of flowers in her hands. The other picture had her, the woman, and another man in it. He was holding a baby in his arms.

"Brings back memories." Said Maria from behind me.

I jumped in fright at the jumpscare she had given me.

"Oh shit- Umm… Maria, I-"

"It's alright." She said, taking the locket from my hands.

I felt a slight relief when she said that.

"Who are those people?" I asked with desperation in my voice.

Maria placed the bowl of food on the stool next to the sofa and sat down. She opened the little object and looked back at me.

"If you want me to tell you, you're more than welcome to join me on the sofa." She said.

"…right." I replied taking a seat next to her

"Hmm." She sighed. "That's my sister." She said calmly.

* * *

"Well- that about wraps up this operation. What do you say we go grab a beer at your place before we meet up with the girls." Suggested Tommy.

I took a while to think about it. Today had been quite the stress being soaked in rainwater and having thunder destroy my ear drums, so I thought, "Hell, why not?"

"Yeah, sure. I could use a drink."

"Maybe you could also think about what you're going to tell, Ellie while were there too."

"Might as well."

"Hey Joel, what do you think about a small little Christmas party?"

"It's a little early to be talking about the holidays don't you think? And why would you want to throw a Christmas party?"

"Well I figured that everyone here has just been working hard and barely had time to have any fun."

"You're right about that, but how's a Christmas Party going to help anyone here?"

"People would be enjoying themselves enough to not even remember what this world has become."

I gave it some thought as we kept on walking back to my place. Lucky for us, it was in sight. I walked up to the front door and opened it up. Tommy followed behind as I grabbed some towels from one of the tables and passed it to him. I grabbed the one that was next to it. Both of us wrapped the towels around ourselves and sat down at the table where a twelve pack of surprisingly edible beer rested underneath it. I pulled out two fresh ones and handed one to Tommy.

"I can understand the purpose of this party idea of your's, but how's everyone else gonna feel about it? They're go paranoid from previous attacks that they won't even let their guard down for a split second."

"I'm thinking of bringing it up in a few months at one of the town meetings. Maybe they'll be fond of the idea."

"Or they'll start rambling on how that's the last thing they need."

"Pfft. Well we need something to soothe their nerves."

"Some are still having a hard time trying to get over the deaths of their family members since that attack during Fall."

"And maybe this could lighten their mood." He said taking another sip of his beer

"Hmm. Well… I don't run this place so it's really up to you and Maria don't you think?"

He looked at his drink then back at me.

"Yeah… I guess you're right."

* * *

"Sister?" I asked confused.

"Mhm. That was her on her wedding day. She looks gorgeous doesn't she?" she asked

"Y-yeah. Since when did you have a sister?" I asked even more curious than last time.

"My dad and I don't like to talk about it much, really."

Maria's normal tone had changed into a kind of depressed one, yet she somehow managed to keep a smile on her face.

"When did you take those photos? I asked

"…The first one is of her wedding day. The second one was a month after they had a baby together. Their marriage was something that couldn't be torn apart so easily.

"What was her name?"

"Stephanie… Stephanie Carter."

"So I take that that's your last name too?"

"You bet." She said smiling. "Her husband's name was Raymond. He was …"

I had no idea what Latino was. I just looked at her confused until she picked up and said something else.

"He was a pretty cool guy to be around. He made my sister happy and was always there for her no matter what. She loved him more than anything in the world… well… other than her daughter." She said pointing at the baby Raymond was holding in his arms.

"What was the baby's name?"

"Jasmine."

I did some thinking of my own on why they weren't here with Maria in this town.

"…Did… they… you know?"

Maria closed her eyes, like if she was having a flashback or something. She opened her eyes seconds later and looked back at me.

"When all of this started, I lived in this town with my dad. My sister lived with her husband all the way in Minnesota. Hmpf- As soon as everyone was evacuated we were all moved to a quarantine zone in Seattle."

"Washington?"

"Do you know any other Seattle's?" she asked with a chuckle. "Anyway, things were going well at first."

"…until?"

"Until about a year later;"

"What happened?"

"The military began killing… murdering people, for no reason at all? But nooo, they just couldn't go around killing innocents without a 'reason'. They always had some kind of bullshit excuse whenever they put someone down." She grunted

"Why did they kill innocents?" I questioned

"They needed to conserve food rationings! There were too many people inside the zone and they couldn't feed everybody. Eventually they just ended up becoming trigger happy."

I took another look at the small photo inside the locked and pointed to her sister's family.

"What happened to them?"

She looked at the photo again and let out a quick sob.

"Maria?" I called to her concerned

"It's nothing." She said trying to avoid a breakdown of her emotions. "For three years we had to live in that... bullshit they called a safe zone. I swear to god we would've been better off being left for dead in the outside."

Another quick sob managed to find its way through Maria's lips. At any second I could tell she would let loose and cry in despair.

"Anyway." She said, finally catching her breath. "A rumor spread to us… saying that my sister and her husband were next to be killed for supposedly, 'assaulting one of the soldiers."

"Oh no… is that how…"

"Like I said. It was just a rumor." She said with grief. "And because they believed it, they decided to… eh… you know…"

"Fuck?"

"Ellie!"

"What?"

Almost instantly it was like her sadness had disappeared and replaced with happiness as she laughed at my remark.

"Well… you're right. They did… fuck." She said giggling. "You also wanna guess what happened next?"

"What?"

"She got pregnant." She said, returning once again to her sad like state.

"Noooo." I responded dramatically. "What about their daughter?"

"Jasmine?"

"Is that her name?"

"Yeah. She was alright." She assured nodding

"Was?" I asked a bit worried

Maria looked down at the ground, ready to start crying, but she managed to hold it in.

"…Mhm.." she replied with a quick sniff.

"What about the soon-to-come baby of theirs?"

She stopped and looked at me like if I said something wrong.

"Theirs? That's funny." She said looking at the photo.

"Why?" I asked, hoping to reveal another mystery

"The fucker left her."

"What?!" I said jumping back at the shocking news. "Why would he-"

"He didn't want to raise another child. The daughter they had already was tough to raise anyway, and if they added another kid, they'd have to give up their own rations to feed it. My sister had no problem with that, but her douchebag husband did. From there they got into this huge argument and ended up going their separate ways."

"What about the daughter?"

"She went with my sister. Her husband was too busy wanting to find an escape route with his pedophilic, friend."

"Did they find a way out?" I asked concerned

"Yeah, but…"

"But what?"

"The military figured it out."

"How?" I asked more curious than my last question

"The son my sister had was sort of like a friend to the leader of the military in that zone. Sometimes that boy would sneak off when we didn't know it and go hangout with him. I don't know how the general did it… but he got that information off of that little kid. He used him."

"That's… bad."

"On the day we planned to escape, the military came knocking on our door, demanding we open up and turn ourselves in. Instead we out the back and ran like hell."

"What happened then?"

"They came chasing after us, that's what happened. Bastards were getting trigger happy and shooting like a bunch of wild chimps."

From there Maria started to have tears leaking from her eyes. After this long into our talk, she was finally accepting her emotions. The next sentence and every other one following it was interfered by sobs and very short periods of crying that lasted two to three seconds.

"He fell down-"

She began crying to herself for a little bit. I couldn't help, but give her a quick hug and tell her to relax.

"And right before he got shot-… She… she sacrificed herself for him…"

At this point she stopped for a minute or two and began crying on her own arm. I was beginning to regret even asking her who these people were. Now I made her recall probably one of the worst and saddest moments of her life.

Maria got up and walked into the kitchen, where I heard the faucet turn on. I looked back at the locket of her sister and brother in law. All which were torn apart because of the horrors going on today.

"I'm sorry." She said coming back inside the room. "I didn't mean to get-"

"It's alright." I assured trying to comfort her.

"You still want me to keep going?" she asked wiping her right eye with her right sleeve."

"If it's no hassle." I said concerned

"Anyway, she said sitting back down. "She grabbed him and used herself as a shield to block the bullet. From there she began bleeding a lot."

"What happened to Jasmine?" I asked her

"…She died."

"WHAT?! HOW?!"

"She didn't make it out of the tunnel… and the military took her away from her parents."

"What about your sister's son?"

"Hmpf. …When we managed to escape my sister was still alive… for a while. I told her that I wanted to take her son with me, but she wanted him to go with his father… despite the fact the dad didn't give a single fuck about him."

"Why?"

"Because she wanted them to spend time together and hopefully get along… and for once… establish an actual father-son relationship with one another. I tried to talk her out of it, but her mind was already made up."

"What did the dad do?"

"He agreed to take him… but he claimed that if the kid got lost or wandered off on his own… he wouldn't go back for him. With those last words… she passed. From there we buried her… and then went our separate ways. I came here to Jackson and that other bastard probably ended up getting himself killed with that innocent boy."

The door opened slowly and in came Joel and Tommy. Both drenched to their socks in rain water.

"I'll tell you, if that rain keeps at it then Jackson will be underwater within a few days." Said Tommy

"Hopefully it'll be over by tomorrow." Replied Joel "Ellie, c'mon. It's time to go."

I looked at Maria. She nodded and closed the locket back up again.

"I'm going. Bye Uncle Tommy."

Tommy looked at Joel a bit surprised to hear that. Joel looked at him back and shrugged before opening the door.

"Thanks for the talk, Maria." I said looking back at her. She waved goodbye as well as I took a step into the storm. Joel closed the door on his way out and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Hey… Ellie."

"What?" I asked

"I need to talk to you about something when we get back home. I've been meaning to tell you for a while now.


End file.
